Workman Nets 1,000th Point in Win Over Bates

AMHERST, Mass. - Willy Workman ’13 became just the 26th player in program history to surpass the 1,000 point plateau as the 10th-ranked Amherst men’s basketball team used a strong second half surge to power past NESCAC rival Bates, 86-69.

Extending their win streak to 13, Amherst (19-2, 7-0 NESCAC) went on a 29-10 run over a span of 7:30 late in the second half to blow the game open.

Netting 16 of his 18 points after the break, Workman reached the career milestone on a reverse layup with 3:30 left in regulation. Aaron Toomey ’14 continued his hot shooting, hitting eight of his 13 attempts for a game-high 27 points, five assists and four rebounds. Peter Kaasila ’13 was the only other Jeff in double figures, scoring 13 points, while grabbing a career-best 15 boards.

Mark Brust ’13 paced Bates with 18 points five assists and five rebounds, while Ed Bogdanovich ’13 finished with 14 points and seven boards. Luke Matarazzo ’14 chipped in with 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting, hitting on three of his four attempts from behind the arc.

Opening the game on a 15-4 run, Bates took an 11-point lead on a Safford three-pointer at 13:26. Still down 11 after a pair of Matarazzo free throws, Amherst reeled off a 16-3 run over the next 4:13, taking a 25-23 lead on Toomey’s second trey of the game.

Tying it with a jumper at 7:05, Safford ended a nearly three-minute Bobcats’ field-goal drought, but Toomey came right back down with a triple to pull the Jeffs back in front. Down 33-30 with 2:38 left in the half, Bates pieced together an 8-4 run, taking a slim one-point lead into the intermission.

Draining a triple to open the second half scoring, Matarrazzo put the visitors up 41-37, but a 17-9 Amherst run over the next six-plus minutes put the Purple & White back up four. With the game knotted at 57-57 with 9:04 to go, Amherst took control. Workman got the run started with a three-pointer before a Connor Green ’16 trey coupled with a Ben Pollack ’16 layup made it 65-58.

Workman then connected on a pair from the charity stripe, before Green again hit from long distance to up the lead to 12. Safford ended a six-minute Bates field-goal drought with a three at 5:05, but Workman responded with a three-pointer of his own to make it 73-61. Staying on the offensive, Amherst scored 16 of the game’s next 22 points, building its largest lead of the night on a pair of Toomey free throws that stretched the margin to 19 with just 1:26 on the clock.

Shooting 57.6 percent (19-for-33) in the second half, the Jeffs finished 32-for-63 (50.8 percent) from the floor and 10-for-21 (47.6 percent) from three-point range. Tightening up as the game wore on, the Amherst defense held Bates to just 11-for-33 (33.3 percent) in the second stanza after allowing the Bobcats to shoot 45.2 percent (14-for-31) in the first 20 minutes.